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Thursday, June 30, 2011

Myra Canyon Walkabout

Thankyou Travelin' Pat for sharing your experience at Myra Canyon.

An engineering marvel not to be missed is only 18 km from the city of Kelowna. I’m referring to the Myra Canyon trestles. Built between 1910 and 1915 the trestles are part of the legendary Kettle Valley Railroad.

In Aug 2003 a bolt of lightning hit the ground at Squally Point on Okanagan Lake and a fire swiftly spread up the hill and then raged out of control, first burning over 200 homes in Kelowna, then on into Okanagan Mountain Park. By the time the fire was extinguished several weeks later 12 trestles were destroyed and 2 were damaged. History gone up in smoke.

Evidence of the fire still apparent

Rebuilt in 2005 they are now available for all to enjoy.

One of the tunnels along the way

Along the way we drove past the posh Gallagher’s Canyon Golf course then made our way into what felt like ever-increasing wilderness. The car bumped and jounced along the dirt washboard road and at one point a gorgeous, healthy looking black bear bounded onto the road, skidded to a stop, took a good look at us then hot footed it back into the bush. Now we really felt like we were on a mini wilderness adventure!

Looking down towards Kelowna

Track Bed for walking and cycling

We strolled along the track bed awed by the breathtaking views and the truly impressive engineering feat. The information station gives you the skinny on the fire and the wildlife and the track bed is wide and relatively smooth making it easy to bike ride or hike. Strategically located benches are situated for folks to sit and take in the view, which stretches all the way down to the city and Okanagan Lake, the reported home of Ogopogo, but that’s another story.